Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. The you will sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, making music to the Lord in your hearts and you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of ur Lord Jesus Christ. (NLT)

Have a great weekend and don't forget to attend church.

Thinking of you.

What About Speaking in Tongues?

Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance.

There are divisions in the Christian church today that arise out of several reasons for this scripture being misinterpreted. Is it meant for today or does it only apply for the "Apostolic" age or the first century?

Pentecostals will tell you your salvation may not be complete without the infilling of the Holy Spirit. A lot of denominations simply say that it is not for today. Well salvation is not limited by lack of this gift because Jesus paid the full price for our salvation so that argument is weak at best. The infilling of the Holy Spirit is just as much for today as it was in the first century because I do not find scriptural evidence for this to be true. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and nowhere in the Bible does it state that He called Him back to heaven. Don't you think that something as important as Acts chapter 2, announcing the arrival of the Holy Spirit, would be followed up by an equally important piece of information as the Holy Spirit Leaving?

Now this may seem overly simplistic, but I find that the Bible is very easy to understand if you will let it into your heart, not just your head. I can think of many reasons not to believe that the Bible is not true in a lot of areas and I know that the devil will help you with your thinking in this arena. I have also heard a lot of teachings that address the issues of this subject on both sides.

One in particular is very comical to me because it makes less sense to the mind than most of the arguments. Have you ever heard that "Tongues are of the devil!" I have to laugh at this one because even to the logical mind it would make sense if all the people that are satan worshippers, criminals and folks locked up in prisons would all be speaking in tongues. If tongues are of the devil, then people that get saved would have to be delivered from such a demonic force. You would have to cast out the "devil of tongues." Rather illogical even to the unregenerate mind in that it simply does not make sense.

So, what is the purpose of this heavenly gift? I will address the one scripture that should seal the deal for all. Luke 3:21-23 Now when all the people were baptized it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "Thou art My beloved Son; I thee I Am well pleased." and Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age..... you can read the rest.

The point here is this. Jesus was filled with the Holy Ghost and this is when His earthly ministry began. This was the beginning of miracles, signs and wonders so much so that people came running to Him to be touched by Him. You need the Holy Ghost to empower you to walk as Jesus walked and do the things Jesus did. So now let us go to Acts 2, the same Holy Spirit that descended on Jesus was sent back to earth by Jesus. When Jesus ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit was sent to descend on US, as with Jesus in the Jordan that day!!! John the Baptist declared in Matthew 3:11 that when Jesus came, He would baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire. The holy Ghost came in the form of a dove on Jesus and in the form of fire on born again people the day of Pentecost.

Pure and simple, you have to be taught to misunderstand this simple basic truth.

Just a thought!

Loves Pursuit

Another primary example of God's Love for man is found in the book of Jonah. God sent Jonah to a city that was full of sin and wickedness, with a message. Jonah chapter 1, verse 2: "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me".... Chapter 3 verse 4 reads, "and Jonah began to enter the city a day's journey, and he cried and said, "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown"

Now, the first question asked in this instance is this, "Why would a loving God send destruction on the Ninevites or even allow it to happen?" This verse states that it was because of their sin that disaster was coming upon them. Well, we have to understand that God cannot bless sin. This was the reason for expelling Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. God could no longer bless their disobedience and protect them from satan's plots and plans. In the same way, because of the wickedness and sin of the people, God could not protect the city of Nineveh and its inhabitants. But, God so loved the inhabitants of the city that he took it upon Himself to warn them of the disaster to come unless they repented.

Jonah gets this word from God and decides that this is a good time for a trip to Tarshish. Of course, God's mercy and compassion are so great for the people of Neneveh, that he uses extraordinary means to steer Jonah back to Nineveh. So, in the middle of the journey, he is thrown overboard and swallowed up by a great fish. Jonah makes a quality decision, at this point, to repent of his disobedience and he is then brought back to shore. Now, an important thing to remember is that Jonah is a prophet of God. He has committed his life to serving the Lord. God is not forcing him to fulfill the job he has volunteered to do. Jonah is a servant of God. All of this is done to convince Jonah of the seriousness of the message God has for the inhabitants of Nineveh. Jonah is so strongly persuaded by this sign from God, that he obeys His command to take this message to warn them. This is the Love of God for man.

Jonah then goes to Nineveh and warns the city of the impending disaster. The king of Nineveh calls for a national time of repentance, prayer and fasting. To Jonah's surprise, the city repents, turns to God and is saved from being destroyed. Now if this city were predestined to fall at the hands of a foreign army, why did God stop this army from destroying the Ninevites when they were in gross sin?

The answer lies in God's Love for all of mankind. He simply gave them an opportunity to believe Him. They were in gross sin, faced the problem, dealt with it honestly and repented. Repentance is simply turning from your current course that will lead to (everlasting) destruction and following the straight and narrow path to (eternal) life. Repentance requires change.

Just a thought!

Excerpt from "What Do You Mean...Born Again?" Copyright 1999 Rev. Robert D Berning - Used with permission.

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If God...

If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.

If God had a wallet, your photo would be in it.

He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning.

When you want to talk, He'll listen.

He could live anywhere in the universe and He chose your heart.

And that Christmas gift He sent you in Bethlehem?

Face it friend, He's crazy about you, and so am I!

Be Blessed today to all of you my dear friends!!

Do the Math 1+1+1 = 1

The equation above does not add up in the eyes of the world. We see and perceive through the eyes and mind that we have in our human bodies. But the heavenly truth is that God, who is a Spirit, is 3 persons in one. Well, that doesn't add up either and may seem a little confusing. As a matter of fact the Jews of Jesus day, although schooled in the scriptures, found this concept hard to believe and had a difficult time understanding the meaning of it. Jesus declared that He and the Father are one. To further complicate things, when He was baptized in the Jordan River, the Spirit of God descended on Him in the form of a dove and a voice came from heaven declaring Him to be God's Son. We see this in Luke's account as follows:

Luke 3:22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. KJV

So to the natural mind it does not make sense when Jesus claimed that He and the Father are one. So how do we square this seeming impossibility?

Let's go to Genesis and look at the account of God creating man.

Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. KJV

Here, God makes a statement that indicates there are more than one "person" involved in the creation of man.

But you might say, this still does not make sense. I say you are correct in that the natural man cannot understand the things that are spiritual. The Apostle Paul was a pharisee and a zealous one at that until his Damascus road experience. He then writes to the Corinthian church the following statement.

1 Cor 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. KJV

Oh that really helps, now I know why I don't understand but it still doesn't make sense. Let me help you out a bit.

My son asked me one time, "How can Jesus and God be one person?" How do you explain to a 5 year old a deep spiritual truth like this? I was challenged in that I did not have a ready answer, but here is where it is extremely important to pause and listen for the Holy Spirit to give you the answer.

I told my son that it is like watching television. You see the person's image transmitted from the studio, probably thousands of miles away and hear the person's voice. It is as if the person is in your living room. Jesus said if you see me, you have seen the Father. So picture this (no pun intended), God is in the studio (heaven) and the image of Him is transmitted to earth (Jesus) by the TV signal (The Holy Spirit). This picture is captured by the TV set and you see exactly what the camera is seeing.

This also solves another seemingly difficult question. How can God (Jesus) be everywhere and in heaven at the same time? Well, how many television sets can capture that image and project it onto the screen? As many as have the right circuitry to receive and process the image being transmitted.

That brings us to having the right circuitry to process the transmissions. You must be Born Again. Jesus said in John 3:3

....." Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." KJV

You cannot receive the transmission from heaven until you are introduced to the Son of God and He gives you the Holy Ghost power to see the kingdom of God. In other words, get plugged into the power source and your(spiritual) eyes will be opened and you will be able to understand the Bible and what it teaches and you will see The Kingdom of God.